• A New Year Begins

• Industry News: Robert Middleton, Limiting Thoughts

• Review - Book: The New Rational Manager by Kepner & Tregoe

• The Spotlight- 6 Human Needs

• Feedback from visitors

• How to Be Featured as a Guest Columnist

• Sponsorship Notice - Meet Chicks with Attitude

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Well for me 2005 is going to be a big year. It will be so because I want it to be and I am setting plans in place to take responsibility for my own future supported by taking action. For many 2004 probably presented many challenges, not all of which were successful. Do not let this discourage you.

Christmas is over, the children are back at school and with luck you have returned fresh from a well deserved break shared with family and friends. The holiday is over guys - it is time to get back into it and consider how you too are going to make 2005 a year to look back on with pride and a sense of accomplishment.

I was talking with an associate the other day who was telling me how hard it is to work with the Small Medium Enterprise (SME) market because they so often do not see the value in spending money on using outside help in an appropriate manner. Sadly this is true and yet the business owners in this market segment are probably the ones who have the greatest need.

When you run a small business which grows into a successful medium business you invariably lack the skills to achieve all you could with your business on your own. Today, the skill requirements of business owners to actually grow those businesses are overwhelming for most.

Through my involvement in a government program to assist small businesses I so often see some absolutely wonderful people come forward with their business ideas seeking help and so many of them do not even have a business plan. They have failed to carry out the right sort of market research and invariably do not have a clear understanding of why their product or service should sell over their competition.

No matter how passionate you may be about your business, at the end of the day survival and growth will need more than passion. You will most likely need the support of outside help and this should not be restricted to your accountant. They do an excellent job but your business is going to need assistance in the areas of Strategic Planning, Business Planning, Marketing Plans, development of your staff, understanding of your positioning, to name but a few areas that all are of importance.

These all need access to people such as your accountant and your solicitor however you should also consider specialists in these and related fields. A Business Coach can work with you in many of these and can invariably put you in contact with the specialists. These people do not work at cross purposes to each other - in fact it is quite the opposite and your Business Coach can be of great assistance.

For most of us, spending a couple of thousand dollars on coaches or other professionals is a lot however you must first of all see it as an INVESTMENT, not an expense. Look at what your return will be down the track. Take a close look at what you spend now directly and most importantly, with your own time, and see what return you get. Are you really doing the best for yourself and your business?

When engaging a Business Coach you may wish to ask them what sort of alliances they have with other professionals because this could bring added value to your relationship that may not be so with some business coaches.

Hope you all are setting yourselves up for a great year in 2005 and I look forward to meeting some of you during the year and hearing of your successes.

Do you have limiting thoughts that are holding you back?

The insidious thing about limiting thoughts is that we don't really think them. They think us. That is, we identify with them so completely that they become the gospel truth to us - even as they undermine our best intentions in life and in work.

Are any of them familiar to you?

• "I'm not the marketing type."

• "It's hard for me to talk about my business."

• "I'm just not a good writer."

• "Public speaking scares me to death"

• "All this technology intimidates me"

• "I just don't have the time to market myself."

• "But it's so easy for you"

Every limiting thought becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's true because you say it's true. And if you don't question your thoughts, they will continue to control your destiny.

One technique called works as follows:

First, write down a limiting thought like the ones I've listed above. Then ask the following four questions, writing down your answers. Do it slowly, really pondering before you give an answer:

1. Is this thought true? (Or is it just a thought you've attached to?)

2. (If yes, or not sure) Can I absolutely know that it's true?

3. How do I react when I think that thought? Make a long list of your actions, behaviour feelings and other thoughts that arise in the wake of the original thought.

4. Who would I be without that thought? If you were facing a marketing challenge, such as writing an article, and you simply could not have the thought, "I'm not a good marketing writer" how would things be different?

Finally, turn the thought around. That is, state the limiting thought in reverse: "I am a good marketing writer." And then ask yourself if that new statement is just as true or truer than the original. You may be surprised by your answer.

This year, your business results will be determined not by your circumstances but by your thinking. If you think limiting thoughts you have no right to expect anything beyond those limiting thoughts.

If you start to question your limiting thoughts and beliefs, I guarantee that new and exciting possibilities will open up to you. You might even start to think of yourself as a good public speaker!

We all see so much written about new management practices and styles and much of this is very good. I personally wonder how so much can be written by so many that hasn't been said before. In fact it is my belief that most of it has. This book is an excellent book written about Solving Problems, Decision Analysis and Potential Problem Analysis. In fat the authors have been running training workshops for this very material for many years all over the world. I have been in need of preparing some material on this subject and went back to this book to refresh my memory. You see I did the course myself and have applied its principals ever since. The reason I decided to check back to the book was simply due to the fact that as I was developing some training course I thought that I should just check up on a few things as it was 25 years ago that I did the course!

I was glad to see that I had essentially stuck to the principals of what I first taught. In my book that shows how powerful the material was. This book very simply shows you how to be more effective in how you resolve problems and how to make better informed decisions. These two guys first published this book in 1965 - that is 40 years ago and since then have seen their material taught in over 44 countries in 14 languages.

Most other course material I have ever come across would appear to be based on the early principals of Kepner and Tregoe. If you can lay your hands on a copy of the book then I suggest you get and read it. If you get a chance to attend one of the Kepner-Tregoe courses then it will be money well spent.

If you wish to find out more I would suggest you do w web search and you will find a number of web sites including their own web home page.

Evaluate this list to better understand your personal motivations and examine which ones seem the most significant to you. Then, look at what you do to fulfil the needs of others. It will likely make a difference in what and how you do what you do. It also should make a difference in the way you describe and explain what you and your product can do.

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Superb Coaching provides behavioural coaching to individuals in order to bring about personal transformation leading to achieving greater effectiveness and a more balanced approach to their personal and business lives.

Greg is also works as a coach for Shirlaws where he works at bringing about business transformation within small and medium organisations.

The business models and coaching methods are each valid but each address separate needs for different styles of clients.

All views expressed in this newsletter be they direct or implied are solely those of the Editor and should not be construed as advice or representative of any other party referred to elsewhere in this newsletter. The information provided in this newsletter has been compiled for your convenience. Superb Coaching makes no warranties about the accuracy or completeness of any information herein contained.